While the move towards open access is often framed in terms of journal articles, Sigi considers “the growing need for viable open access dissemination options, particularly in Humanities disciplines, which are heavily reliant on the book form.”

Discussing the future of open access in New Zealand, Penny argues that the point of research “is to increase global knowledge. Disseminating work through open access channels means that researchers in less resourced institutions, practitioners in the field and the general public can share findings.”

Despite the challenge open access poses to existing business models, Alice argues that publishers have “discovered that OA offers many new opportunities for us, as well as real benefits for the scholarly and wider community.”

In this edited version of her keynote speech to the 2012 Modern Language Association conference, Kathleen asks, “What if we were to recognize that the only way to hold onto the knowledge we have – and to help higher education and the communities within which we work to thrive – is to give it away?”

“The fate of scholarly societies is one of the most contentious and even emotional in the open access landscape,” writes Cameron Neylon, in his post on the future of society publishing in an age of open access.

Fabiana Kubke, Senior Lecturer, School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland

Focusing on the process of scientific research, Fabiana argues that science is a cultural activity, one which depends on common practices of sharing and reuse. As she concludes, “I say it is time to say goodbye to ‘publish or perish’ and time to say hello to ‘share or perish.'”

David Nichols, Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, University of Waikato

In this discussion of the role of publicly funded higher education, David argues that “the stereotypical ivory tower characterisation of academics has been largely consistent with their publishing practices.”

Siouxsie Wiles, HRC Hercus Fellow, School of Medical Science, University of Auckland.

Siouxsie argues that open access to publicly scientific research should be coupled with a change in the way scientists communicate their findings: “At the very least, every paper published under an Open Access banner should have a summary of the main findings that can be understood by a general audience.”

Sarah outlines efforts by Taylor & Francis to respond to international open access mandates, including their plan in 2013 “to implement the T&F Open Select (‘Gold OA’) facility across the majority of our journals.”